Category: Dragon King
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The last great Memphis angle
Straight out of 1986-87, this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show takes a deep dive into the Jerry Lawler vs. Austin Idol steel cage hair vs. hair match which also included Tommy Rich and Paul Heyman. I had so much fun putting this show together and I encourage not only fans of classic wrestling to listen…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: September 1983
Karl Stern talks Harley Race, Ric Flair & Sgt. Slaughter. My deep dive into pro wrestling longform history continues. We stop into September 1983 and the time is getting near for Hulk Hogan to jump to the WWF. Sgt. Slaughter (seen above) continues to rise there as does the Masked Superstar as the era of change…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Joe Stecher at MSG
The history of wrestling at Madison Square Garden series continues. A very famous era for pro wrestling at Madison Square Garden is the focus of this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show. The Nineteens would see the death of the unbeaten World heavyweight champion Frank Gotch and the split of the title into various factions. Among…
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DragonKingKarl Greatest Kayfabe Tournament: Kurt Angle vs. Mankind
Karl Stern’s Greatest Kayfabe Tournament continues. Round two of my Greatest Kayfabe Tournament nears its conclusion — a fictional tournament which asks the question that if pro wrestling were real (not a shoot but the characters as presented on TV were real), who would win? In this match-up, we have Kurt Angle vs. Mankind. You…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: ‘Grunt’ movie review
Karl Stern reviews a terrible wrestling movie from 1985. This week, I am taking a break from our regular rotation of classic wrestling podcasts to take a look back at one of the worst pro wrestling movies ever: 1985’s Grunt: The Pro Wrestling Movie. This abomination of a film is not only bad by movie…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The death of Abismo Negro
Karl Stern looks at the strange circumstances around the 2009 death. In 2009, a strange series of events led to the death of luchador Abismo Negro. Negro, who had also wrestled for both WWE and TNA, was battling drug issues at the time and in the middle of the night, he had a mental breakdown…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: WWF Magazine from December 1993
Get the 1993 scoops on Razor Ramon, Ludvig Borga & Lex Luger. “Promotional consideration paid for by the following….” On our rotation of classic pro wrestling shows, this week takes a look back at the December 1993 issue of WWF Magazine. As you can see, the cover story was about Razor Ramon and how long…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: August 1983
Karl Stern’s longform history of pro wrestling continues. On the latest DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, my longform series on the history of pro wrestling is up next in the rotation. We are up to August 1983 where we discuss Ken Patera in Memphis, Harley Race continuing his record-breaking reign as NWA World Champion, the annual…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The Zbyszko brothers at MSG
Karl Stern’s history of pro wrestling at Madison Square Garden continues. I continue my series looking at the history of pro wrestling at Madison Square Garden in New York City. At this point, we are up to the 1910s where both Stanislaus and Wladek Zbyszko are having a run. Both were world champion wrestlers in…
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DragonKingKarl Greatest Kayfabe Tournament: Dory Funk Jr. vs. Sting
Karl Stern’s fantasy pro wrestling tournament continues. AEW In my rotation of classic pro wrestling shows, this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show comes back around to my Greatest Kayfabe Tournament. On this episode, we have a battle of two past NWA World Champions in Dory Funk Jr. vs. Sting. It’s a battle of two different…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: What’s so special about 1983?
Karl Stern looks at one of the most important years in pro wrestling history. 1983 was one of the most important years in the history of professional wrestling. Here’s some examples: The building of the WWF national expansion The fall of the territories The eventual birth of the major yearly event Hulkamania The fall of…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The death of Andrew ‘Test’ Martin
Karl Stern dives into the pages of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. On this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, we delve into the pages of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter as Dave Meltzer wrote about the passing of WWE star Andrew “Test” Martin at just 33 years old. Starting in 1998 and for nearly a decade afterward,…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Wrestling Superstars from fall 1983
Karl Stern returns with another classic magazine review. Just in time for the release of my new book, DragonKingKarl’s 1983 Pro Wrestling Omnibus, let’s review the Fall 1983 issue of the Apter magazines’ quarterly special: Wrestling Superstars. This issue focused heavily on Georgia Championship Wrestling who was going through some things in 1983. Yes, the “Last Battle of…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: July 1983 in pro wrestling
Go back in time with Karl Stern to the summer of ’83 in the world of wrestling. My longform history of pro wrestling series picks back up with a detailed look at every major event and news story from July 1983 including a shadow break-off NWA group threatening to form with Southwestern Wrestling, ICW, Georgia…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: MSG’s first Italian pro wrestling superstar
Karl Stern’s deep dive through pro wrestling history at MSG continues. We continue our roll through the early 1900s in my deep dive look into the history of pro wrestling at Madison Square Garden. From 1910 to around 1912, MSG found its first Italian superstar which drew heavily from the large Italian fanbase in the…
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DragonKingKarl Greatest Kayfabe Tournament: The Rock vs. AJ Styles
Karl Stern’s fictional tournament rolls on. NBC The DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Audio Show returns with the latest installment in the Greatest Kayfabe Tournament where we discuss The Rock vs. AJ Styles in a battle of two surefire Hall of Famers. Dwayne Johnson may be the far more famous of the two, but Styles is an…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The battle between Jim Wilson & Jim Barnett
Karl Stern delves into the pages of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter for an interesting legal feud. This “From the Pages of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter” edition of the DragonKing Karl Classic Wrestling Show is less of an obituary for Jim Wilson, who was a rather minor footnote in wrestling history, and more of an extensive…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: PWI from January 1984
Karl Stern looks through the pages of Pro Wrestling Illustrated. On this week’s DragonKing Karl, I return with another retro wrestling magazine review, this time looking at the January 1984 issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated — graced by cover boy Rick Martel and whether the AWA was too tough for him. Also inside the magazine:…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The 201 greatest pro wrestlers of all time
Karl Stern discusses his recently-released list. On this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I discuss my list of the 201 greatest pro wrestlers of all-time, so the debates can begin and spoilers can roam free. On this episode, I discuss the top names on the list and then dive deeper to talk about the names that…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: A longform look at June 1983
Hulk Hogan becomes the first IWGP tournament champion. @HulkHogan On this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I take a longform look at the world of pro wrestling in June 1983 — an epic and historic month. Among the things I talk about: Southwest Wrestling is doing weird things Hulk Hogan wins the inaugural IWGP tournament…